A broker for U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth attempted to make a big investment in major defense companies in the weeks leading up to the U.S.-Israeli attack on Iran, the Financial Times reported on Monday (March 30, 2026), citing three people familiar with the matter.
Mr. Hegseth’s broker at Morgan Stanley contacted BlackRock in February, about making a multimillion-dollar investment in the asset manager’s Defence Industrials Active ETF, shortly before the U.S. launched military action against Tehran, the report added.
According to the FT report, the investment discussed by Mr. Hegseth’s broker did not ultimately go ahead as the fund, which launched in May last year, was not yet available for Morgan Stanley clients to buy.
The FT report did not say how much discretion the broker had to make investments on Mr. Hegseth’s behalf, or whether he knew what the broker was doing.
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